Venezuela opened a corruption probe of a leading opponent of President Hugo Chavez on Tuesday with less than a month to go before nationwide elections. Attorney General Luisa Ortega said prosecutors should decide whether to file criminal charges against Gov. Manuel Rosales by year's end, throwing up a cloud that will remain through election day on Nov. 23. Rosales, a two-time governor, is running for mayor of Maracaibo, Venezuela's second-largest city. Rosales denied any wrongdoing and accused Chavez and his allies of raising false charges to prevent his victory next month.
'They have always dreamed of taking me out of the political game,' said Rosales, one of four opposition governors in Venezuela's 23 states. 'They cannot win with votes, so they try to win with tricks.'
Chavez called for Rosales's imprisonment on Saturday, saying he's involved in a purported assassination plot. 'I have decided to make Manuel Rosales a prisoner,' Chavez said. 'He cannot continue in office ... He is one of those who wants to see me dead.'
The allegations piled up on Tuesday, when Giancarlo Di Martino, a close Chavez ally running to replace Rosales as governor of western Zulia state, accused Rosales of extortion and misusing public funds.
Di Martino also alleged that Rosales was involved in the murder of Julio Soto, an student protest leader shot to death last year, but did not explain why Rosales would be involved in the slaying of a fellow opposition leader.
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